Before
by Page1229
Summary: The Yu Yu Gang's early years. Rated T for violence and future gore.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or it's characters

Chapter1: Yusuke and Keiko meet

"Yusuke, go outside and play for a bit. 'Kay, sweetie?" Atsuko said nonchalantly. "Mommy needs to talk with her new client." The mysterious man beside her grinned at the boy. "Yeah, slugger, me and your mom need to finish some business." He put his arm around Atsuko's shoulders. The woman shrugged off his arm with an angry look in her eye.

Yusuke, a five year old boy with black hair and big brown eyes that matched his mother's, had to deal with guys like this all the time now that his father was gone. He remembered that his parents had another argument and heard the door slam shut as his dad left. Atsuko tried to explain that Yusuke's dad was only going to be gone for a few days to cool off, but her son wasn't buying it. That had happened a year ago and since then strange men had been coming and going from their apartment to "see" his mom. Yusuke didn't know exactly what his mother would do with these men, but he knew he would never see them again after.

"Go to the park and play. Just don't come back until dinner, okay?" Atsuko placed her hand gently on Yusuke's cheek. She seemed to be pleading for him to stay away. Yusuke saw his mom act like this whenever a "client" came by.

"Okay," Yusuke replied with a bit of a dejected tone. He walked over to the door, put on his shoes, and left. As soon as the door closed, he heard the man say something he couldn't understand and his mom replying with a more businesslike manner. The boy sighed as he walked down the street a few blocks and then walking across the road to the park.

He saw other kids around his age laughing and playing. They weren't kicked out of the house while their mother entertained a complete stranger. A dark cloud seemed to loom over him as approached the playground. The other children payed him no mind as he sat on the swing set and pushed himself slowly.

"Move it runt unless you want to get clobbered!" a voice from behind him said. It was rough sounding, even for a kid with barely the usual high pitch you hear before puberty. Yusuke turned his head and saw a kid with orange hair and beady eyes glaring at him. "You deaf? I said move it!"

Yusuke felt a fire rise inside of him and he stood up without any conscious thought. He turned to face the boy, who turned out to be at least five inches taller than him. "Make me," Yusuke demanded. His fists were clenched and he was ready to tackle the kid.

"Obviously, you don't know who I am," the boy shot back. "My name is Kaz-"

"I don't give a damn!" Yusuke swore. His cursing made the other kids around them turn and watch the pair. "I'm not leaving and if you want to fight, then let's fight!" Yusuke was not in a good mood and pounding on this ugly brat was sure to make him feel better.

It wasn't long before the two boys were on the ground wrestling each other. The other boy may have been bigger, but Yusuke could definitely hit harder. A minute into the fight and Yusuke was on top hitting the other boy repeatedly in the face with his fists. That was when Yusuke felt a hard knock at the side of his head, knocking him off of the other boy. Dazed, Yusuke looked up to see a girl maybe three years older than him pick up his opponent. She had long brown hair and the same beady eyes as the boy, but they served to give her a more mature look.

"Kazuma, how many times have I told you to block with your hands not your face!" the girl was drilling at the other boy. "Sorry, sis. I forgot," the boy replied sheepishly. Yusuke saw with satisfaction that he managed to give Kazuma a black eye and knocked one of his teeth girl dragged Kazuma away, all the while going over fighting maneuvers and giving him a few smacks upside the head. Yusuke only sat on the ground and laughed at the assaults. The other children returned to playing in their own groups, ignoring Yusuke like before except now some regarded him with wary looks.

Yusuke returned to the swing, rubbing the lump on his head that Kazuma's sister put there. Kazuma did not even give Yusuke a small bruise but his sister knocked him flat! The boy continued to swing slowly, thinking about his dad. Yusuke didn't really miss his father, he had always been mean to Yusuke and would hit him whenever Yusuke did something wrong. Atsuko did not like this form of discipline and this was usually how their arguments would start. Then Atsuko would notice Yusuke's father coming home late after work with the smell of booze on his breathe. She would attack him about what sort of example he was setting for his son, then he would call her a hypocrite and ask how many "coffees" she had had that day. Yusuke would hide in his room and cover his ears whenever the yelling got really bad. He didn't want to admit it, but sometimes Yusuke would cry into his pillow during some of the worst arguments.

"Hi," a meek voice behind him said. Yusuke turned, annoyed that no one had the decency to leave him alone. But then he saw that the voice behind him belonged to a girl with short brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. She wore a pink dress and her hair was put up in a side pony tail. "Are you okay?" she asked. "You look like you've been crying."

"What? No I haven't," Yusuke rubbed his eyes. They were raw and puffy and he saw some dark spots on his sleeve after he wiped his face.

"It's okay," the girl assured. "I cry sometimes, too."

"Yeah, only girls cry!"

The girl pouted. "Well if your going to be mean then I won't ask you to play." She crossed her arms at her chest like a grown up. Yusuke thought she looked pretty but he was starting to think she was bossy.

"Like I would want to play with a girl."

"Fine!" She turned her back and the way she stuck her nose up in the air made Yusuke want to do something naughty to bring her off her high horse. He looked at her dress and saw it stopped at her knees. Instantly, he grabbed the back of her dress and lifted it over her head. White underwear with pink hearts on them were revealed and the other children started laughing. The girl turned a bright red as she pushed her dress down. She turned around and saw Yusuke pointing and laughing. On impulse, the girl raised her right hand high in the air and brought it down. WHACK! Yusuke was on the ground with a bright red hand print on his left cheek.

"Jerk!" And the girl turned around and stormed off, leaving Yusuke stunned. He didn't know why, but he started regretting doing such a mean thing to a pretty girl. Face still throbbing, Yusuke stood up and walked after the girl. He spotted her at a park bench in front of two adults that he assumed were her parents. Her mother was speaking softly to her while her father held her. Yusuke saw this and definitely started feeling not only regret, but sadness about his own family. His father had never held Yusuke the way this girl's dad was holding her. Some time passed and the girl started to look like she was feeling better and ran off to play. When she saw Yusuke, she froze. Yusuke walked right up to her and said, "I'm sorry." The girl smiled and held out her hand.

"I'm Keiko."

Yusuke took her hand and felt like he would never let go. "Yusuke."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Kuwabara's pride

The guests were finally leaving, giving Shizuru and Kazuma words of comfort as they left. The altar in their living room containing the body of the woman they had all come to pay their respects for. A picture of a beautiful woman with bright orange hair and gray eyes sitting on top of the surface. A man with brown hair and beady brown eyes seemed to stare at the picture the entire time the wake was going on. He didn't respond to the guest or even his children as they tried to get him to move. Shizuru was eleven years old, Kazuma eight. Shizuru secretly began to fear what would happen to her and her baby brother now. Their mother was killed in a car accident and their father, who had been in the car with her, was suffering from survivors' guilt. Mr. Kuwabara just seemed to stare off into space even when Shizuru pleaded for him to return.

"You're not the only one that lost her, dad!" Shizuru shook her father's shoulders to try to get a response. She was starting to slip away too but then who would look after Kazuma? Their father continued to look off into space, not even when his usually unemotional daughter began to cry. She couldn't help it, all the weight of what would happen now was too much on an eleven year old girl's shoulders. Kazuma hardly ever saw Shizuru cry, if ever, and he knew that this was going to be more than rough on all of them.

"Kuwabara, I heard about your mom, sorry," one of Kazuma's friends tried to console the next day at school. It was at break and classmates began to give condolences, but every time someone walked up to Kazuma, he would just smile and say, "It happens." This threw off a lot of kids and made them wonder if he was really not that bothered by it or if he was just trying to act tough.

"Okay man, you need to stop saying that or people will think you're weird," Okubo warned. "I mean, your mom just died and you're acting like you just spilled your drink."

"Don't worry about me, fellas. I know she's in a better place and there is no use wasting the day boohooing about it." Kazuma grinned in an almost maniacal way that made his friends cringe.

The day went on and still Kazuma had yet to let his grin falter even the slightest. As school let out, his friends tried to talk him into going to the arcade with them. They mostly wanted to see just how much longer he was willing to keep that façade up. "Sorry guys, but my sister wants me to pick up some groceries on the way home."

"Hey, we'll come with you," Kirishima offered.

"Thanks but I got this," Kazuma waved them off. They were beginning to see him come apart as his smile began to droop at the corners. Now they weren't sure what to do. But before they could argue, Kazuma turned on his heels and walked away, waving goodbye while doing so.

He tried to keep the side trip as brief as possible, purchasing items on the list Shizuru had given him and carrying them back to the Kuwabara house. As he entered through the front door, he saw his dad sitting on the couch watching TV. But then he realized he wasn't really watching as much as staring at the box since there was a soap opera on. Kazuma had only seen his dad watch sports and sitcoms because it was a Kuwabara family philosophy to not let unnecessary drama become a part of life.

Shizuru was in the kitchen gathering pots and turning on the stove. She had her long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail so it wouldn't get in the way. The second she heard Kazuma enter the kitchen, she grabbed the food she had asked for and began to cook.

"Need some help?" Kazuma asked in a low tone.

"No, you'll just mess it up like always," Shizuru replied.

Kazuma heard the pain in her words and began to walk into the living room. If he pushed her, Shizuru would only become violent. Kazuma plopped himself on the couch next to his dad, grabbed the remote and began changing the channels. His father stirred a little when Kazuma first sat down but was now back to his usual catatonic state.

Kazuma was watching one of his favorite sitcoms when he heard a pan drop in the kitchen. He reflexively got up and ran into the room to see his sister in the fetal position on the floor, sobbing. Kazuma touched his older sister's shoulder only to get no response. So far that was good, because if Shizuru didn't want to be touched she would have smacked him. Kazuma pick up the pan and placed it on the counter. Then he shifted his attention back to his sister and moved her into a sitting position. He looked into her eyes and saw all the pain he had refused to express. Tears were running down her face like twin waterfalls. Kazuma felt tears of his own at the edge of his eye lids. He embraced Shizuru like he never had before because she was always pushing him away, calling him a wimp. She didn't fight but instead leaned in and cried into his chest. Kazuma held her tighter and began to shed tears of his own into her hair. They stayed like that for about twenty minutes until they both started to smell something burning.

Shizuru stood and turned the stove off, Kazuma opened a window to get some ventilation to clear out the smoke. The chicken Shizuru had placed on the stove was burnt to a crisp.

"Great," she sniffed. She picked up the pan and dumped the chicken into the garbage.

"We still have some pork left over from the..." Kazuma trailed off as he didn't want to bring up last night's wake.

"Fine," Shizuru sighed, she didn't want to cook it to begin with but it looked like she had no choice.

"Can I help?" Kazuma asked. Shizuru looked at her baby brother, sighed, and smiled a little.

"Sure."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Shiori and Shuichi's vacation

"Shuichi, don't forget to pack your toothbrush," Shiori called up the stairs to her son.

"I won't mother," a boy called down.

Shiori, a woman in her mid-thirties with long black hair and black eyes, waited patiently for her ten year old son to come downstairs with his suitcase. They were leaving to visit her late husband's parents for the summer since they lived next to the ocean. Shuichi appeared at the top of the stairs with a large suitcase and a backpack. The boy struggled to carry all the weight by himself.

"What are you doing carrying all of that by yourself?" Shiori asked as she climbed the stairs.

"No," Shuichi objected as she reached for the suitcase. "I've got it mother, you don't have to worry."

His mother ignored him and struggled to pick up the baggage. The suitcase was an inch above the ground before she dropped it and clothes and books spilled out on the floor and stairs. Shiori gasped in pain as she gripped her right wrist, rubbing the scars.

"Mother!" Shuichi exclaimed. He looked up at Shiori with great concern.

"I'm alright," she reassured. "Let us clean this up and get moving so you can see Grandma and Grandpa."

Shuichi nodded and began picking up all his belongings quickly so Shiori wouldn't have to strain herself. About a year ago, Shiori had to go to the hospital to get stitches in both her wrists. She had lost a great amount of blood and since then had not been as able as she was before. Shuichi felt responsible because he had broken the plates the caused her condition. He had knocked them from the cabinet while searching for a container; he lost his footing and Shiori caught him before he landed on the ceramic shards. His weight was also accounted for since, as she caught him, her arms went into the shards. Shuichi has tried to look after her ever since.

Shuichi was an unusual child, to say the least. He was more intelligent than any child in his age group, and he refused to socialize with other boys.

'It won't be long now,' he thought as he picked up his last book and packed it into the suitcase. 'Almost ten years have passed. Soon, I'll have full control of Yoko Kurama's powers.'

"All done, mother," Shuichi informed as he looked to his mother.

Shiori chuckled a little. "I should have known better than to take on too much again. At this rate, I'll never regain my old strength."

"I'm sorry mother," her son apologized. His emerald eyes looked up at her with such care.

"It was my fault," she assured.

"No, I don't mean-"

"Come on, we better get on the road before traffic becomes unbearable." Shiori opened the front door and went out to the car. Shuichi followed with his luggage.

The first week at his grandparents's house was uneventful but Shuichi was still alert for any possible danger. He did this even at home: sensing the surrounding area for trespassers, both human and demon alike. He placed precautionary traps and barriers around the small house with care because his grandmother was slightly psychic. Most of her detections consisted of muscle aches and strange dreams that Shuichi knew was ridiculous, but that did not mean they weren't true. Shuichi had to be careful with his youki around her.

One night, Grandma had decided to try to read everyone's fortune through palm reading.

"You will die a slow and painful death," she informed Grandpa.

"That's nothing new. I'm married, aren't I?" Grandpa joked, causing Shiori and Shuichi to laugh.

Grandma looked to Shiori. "Your turn, sweetheart." Shiori gave Grandma her hand and looked her straight in the face. After some time, Grandma said, "You will find love again, but a hardship that you are not aware of will arise. You will have no control over it, and the outcome is still unclear."

"Oh great," Shiori laughed. "So basically, I won't know what or when something will happen, but it will and there is nothing I can do."

Grandma nodded. "If it ends wrong, you will become more heartbroken than you have ever been."

Shiori withdrew her hand with an exaggerated sigh.

Grandma turned to her red-headed grandson. "Shuichi, I think we all would like to know what your future holds." She offered her hand to take his. Shuichi thought briefly if this was really something worth trying. He shrugged and gave her his palm.

The elderly woman looked longer at his palm than she had at anyone else's. "Hm," she mused. "This is rather complicated. Not surprising since you're such a gifted child, but this is interesting."

They sat in silence for several minutes before she finally spoke again. "Okay, I can only get a few definite answers. You will become a powerful man with great wisdom. But you will experience a lot of physical pain, but nothing compared to the emotional pain when losing the love of your life. You will, however, create many bonds to people. In particular, it seems you will gain brothers who you will be willing to die for, and they you in return."

"Well that is nice," Shiori commented. "I mean the brothers thing."

"But," Grandma exclaimed. "You will have an identity crisis, being torn between two worlds. I can't tell how this will end."

'No surprise there,' Shuichi thought as he withdrew his hand.

Later that night, Shuichi and Shiori sat outside on the porch. Shuichi sat in his mother's lap with his head on her chest as she rocked soothingly in the rocking chair. He listened to his mother's heart beat and heard her humming a small tune. It was times like this that Shuichi forgot about the demon inside him. He wasn't Yoko Kurama, the spirit fox trapped in the body of a young human boy. But he always knew he wasn't Shuichi Minamino, son of Shiori. In this moment, he just existed.

Shiori continued to hum, not knowing the greatest demon thief was sitting in her lap with his ear against her chest being lulled to sleep. She wrapped her arms around him tighter, feeling him relax. He shifted slightly so he was looking at her face. She looked down at him with such an angelic smile he couldn't help but look away.

"I'm sorry mother," her son whispered.

"For what?" She wasn't really asking, the moment was too peaceful for her to remember anything.

Shuichi touched her wrists, tracing the scars with his small fingers. "For everything."

Shiori looked at her son with a confused expression. Then she saw him staring at her scars. "Oh honey," she crooned, holding him tighter. "That wasn't your fault, I did that. I could never have let you get hurt."

'You have no idea how much pain you'll be in when I leave,' Shuichi thought. His mind was riddled with guilt and confusion. Since the day Kurama had occupied the body of Shiori Minamino's child, he knew that once he had regained all of his powers within ten years that he would have to leave. But this woman had been through too much: first was the death of her husband, then the incident that had given her those scars and left her frail, the thought of leaving her without a son was heart wrenching. But why should he care? Shiori was not his real mother, but she cared for him as if she was.

Suddenly, Shuichi asked, "Why do you love me, mother?"

Shiori stared at her son, wondering what brought on this question. "Shuichi, are you alright?"

"I'm fine mother. Please answer the question." He didn't loo at her.

Shiori sat there for a bit before finally responding, "I love you because you are my son."

"That is not really an answer."

"So you want a list?" she teased, but Shuichi continued to look out at the ocean. "Well, I love you because you're so sweet and caring and smart. You always help me in the garden without being asked, and you always do what you're told."

"So you like me for being obedient?"

"I love you for listening."

There was a pause. "What if I wasn't all those things?" her son asked.

"It wouldn't matter, because you're still my son. I carried you for nine months and gave you life. You are half of me, but with all the good things." Shiori stroked Shuichi's bright red hair. Then she began to feel him tremble under her touch. "Shuichi?" He buried his head in her chest as she felt warm tears come from his eyes.

"I love you, mother," Shuichi whispered. 'Kurama be damned,' the boy thought. 'I'm not leaving her.' He felt her arms wrap protectively around him.

"I love you too."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Hiei's first kill

"What a little runt," one demon said. "Swinging that sword around like he knows what he's doing."

"Give the kid a break," another demon with one eye replied. "He's only four, what more do you want?"

The first demon turned his attention away from a small boy with black hair practicing with a sword twice his size, and looked at his friend. "By the time I was four, I had already slaughtered an entire village. This kid has no idea what it's like to kill, to listen to the screams of women and children and laugh because you're the one holding the knife." He gazed off as he went on reminiscing.

The boy wasn't oblivious to the exchange. 'Moron,' he thought.

"HEY HIEI!" a demon yelled out from across the camp. "THE BOSS WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!"

Hiei sheathed his sword, picked up his cape, and walked toward the cliff face where the bandit camp was set up. There were small caves drilled into the cliff by the bandits so they could have more stable shelter during storms. The boy walked up to the opening in the center of the cliff, pushing aside the cloth that acted as a door.

Hiei was small, especially for his age, and next to the leader he looked like the size of a small rodent. The boy never let his size get to him though, he was still a kid and was bound to grow eventually.

"Hiei," the leader of the bandits began. "I understand you've been practicing with a sword. But now I think it's time you used it." He looked down at the demon child and smiled. He placed his hand on Hiei's head. The boy bided his time, then as the boss pulled his hand away, Hiei raised his head and bit down on the demon's middle finger. The boy didn't like to be touch and the man knew it. But instead of punishing the child, the leader only laughed. "Just like when we first found you, you little shit."

The leader sent Hiei off with a small group to a village on the other side of the cliff. They were to rob the village and kill anyone who stood in their way. The one in charge of the group was a demon nicknamed Scratch for his unkept nails. The boy noticed there was dried blood under the nails and assumed this lowlife used them as weapons. He grimaced in disgust when he saw Scratch picking his nose with his pinkie nail.

"What's the plan?" one demon asked.

"What we always do," Scratch answered. "Kill everyone then take everything."

"That's stupid," the boy said. All eyes in the group went to him. It was dark by this point, so his crimson eyes glowed menacingly like a feral beast.

Scratch regarded the boy, then decided to just ignore him. "We'll go in as usual: a straightforward assualt-"

Hiei growled; he didn't like being ignored.

Scratch turned to him. "If you don't like it, brat, then just go back to camp."

Hiei narrowed his eyes but said nothing.

"Okay," Scratch continued. "If there's no more problems, then let's go!"

The attack was sloppy. They charged straight in and caused as much chaos as possible. Hiei stayed in the shadows, like he would be one of the fools that were killed by the guards. Instead, he worked his way to the temple at the north end of the village. There was bound to be treasures there. But when he got there, he noticed that some of his group had already made it there and were setting the building on fire.

"IDIOTS!" he shouted. But they couldn't hear him over the roar of the flames.

Hiei heard a woman screaming from the house next to him. When he turned she came crashing through the door, landing on her stomach. She was wearing a pink kimono that had been torn open at the front, exposing her breasts. She looked around the age of sixteen with long black hair and purple eyes. Scratch came out of the house and grabbed the back of her clothes. Hiei backed up, hiding himself in the shadows. He walked away as the woman continued screaming. He was too young to know what Scratch was going to do to her, but he had been around grown men long enough to get a general idea.

The temple and most of the village was already ablaze. Hiei had yet to fulfill his purpose in this invasion: to steal something valuable and to take a person's life. Otherwise, he could kiss his home goodbye. The leader used this as an initiation for the boy, and despite his fondness for the fire demon, the man would not hesitate to kick Hiei out of the group.

"Hold on there, kid," a voice from behind him commanded. Hiei turned and saw the man was wearing armor like the guards. The man offered the boy his hand. "Come with me, I'll keep you safe."

Hiei looked at the guard. This would be easy; the man believed Hiei was just another child from the village. Hiei prepared to lunge at the man when an arrow pierced the guard's throat. The boy saw one of his group holding a bow aimed in his direction. The little demon was starting to get really irritated now.

He ran to the nearest house that seemed to be untouched. The house was near the edge of town, so for now it seemed to go unnoticed. To further prove this point, there were still people inside. A mother and her two children looked at him in a mix of shock, fear, and confusion.

"Who are you?" the mother asked cautiously. "You're not from the village, I know all the children here."

Hiei recognized this as his chance, but he hesitated. Something about this situation seemed wrong, but how? He was ready to kill the guard without a second thought, and there was nothing to stop him now. So how come he couldn't move?

The fire demon had to force his hand to reach for the sword strapped across his back, never looking away from the trio.

"You're a bandit then." It wasn't a question. The woman looked straight into Hiei's eyes. "That is sick. Recruiting a young boy to murder."

Hiei broke away then, his resolve confirmed. He would kill this family. But for some reason he was compelled to speak, "I'm not doing this for them, I'm doing it for myself." He drew his sword and saw the fear in the children's eyes. It seemed to delight him, knowing he had control over their fate. The mother looked at him with indignation.

"Somehow," she said. "I believe you."

He attacked the woman first, mainly because she was in the way of the children. In one swing, Hiei sliced through the woman's neck with such skill despite the weapons weight. Her head went flying through the air until it hit the wall. Her body crumpled to the floor, blood gushing from her neck like a fountain.

Next were the children, a boy and a girl. The boy tried to shield his sister with his body but Hiei drove the sword through his stomach so that both siblings were skewered. Blood came from their bodies and mouths as they slowly passed. Hiei didn't mind waiting; their gargled cries were like music to him. He pulled his blade out of them and watched them lie on top of the headless body of their mother.

'Almost done,' he thought. He began to rummage through the house until he made it to the woman's bedroom. A small wooden box on a table looked promising, and sure enough when Hiei opened it there were jewels fitted into gold casings as necklaces and rings. The boy grabbed the box and put it down his shirt for safe keeping. He then proceeded to tear the room apart looking for other valuables. A loose floor board revealed a small bag filled with gold coins. Hiei grabbed that as well and proceeded to leave, passing the corpses of his victims on the way out. When he looked at the mother's head, he noticed she still held that furious expression. He chuckled and exited the house, then created a small spark to engulf the home. His mission was finally complete.

Back at the camp, Hiei was congratulated and allowed to stay. The leader even started considering sending him out on some tougher jobs.

"But maybe when you get older," the leader said, purposely ruffling the boy's hair. Like always, Hiei waited then bit down as hard as he could on the man's hand, drawing some blood this time. The leader seemed unfazed and laughed, as usual. "Now you have a real taste for blood, don't you Hiei?"

The boy didn't answer. He left the camp and climbed into one of his favorite trees, an oak that stood higher than the rest in the forest. He made it to the topmost branch and gazed out at the moon. Without any conscience thought, Hiei reached into his shirt and brought out a stone he had around his neck. Its blue surface sparkled from the moonlight. The boy stared at it for what seemed like hours, searching through the icy surface into memories.

A woman crying for her child echoed in his ears, a bitter cold wind seemed to smack his face with snow. He remembered arms holding him then letting go. He was falling. Then, there was a sudden stop as he hit a malleable surface. He instinctively held his breathe until he resurfaced.

Hiei opened his eyes to find he wasn't in the river, but in a tree. His thoughts then went to the woman he had killed and realize why he had hesitated: the woman crying for her child was his own mother. Both women had wanted desperately to protect their children but were helpless to stop a greater force from taking away their plans.

The demon scoffed at his own weakness and tucked the stone back inside his shirt.

"Fool."


End file.
